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Wall Racing’s Tony D’Alberto set the pace in tricky wet conditions in final practice for TCR Australia Round 3 at The Bend Motorsport Park.
D’Alberto shot to the top of the times in the final five minutes as a dry line began to appear on a sodden track surface at the South Australian circuit.
The Hondas appeared most adept in the wet conditions with all three Wall Racing Civic Type Rs inside the top four during the 30 minute outing.
D’Alberto was the best having posted a 2:10.50s although he was almost edged by Jason Bright’s Volkswagen which lapped the 4.95km circuit 0.05s slower in the closing moments.
Bright’s late effort split the Hondas as John Martin ended up third ahead of debutant Jordan Cox, who topped opening practice also held in wet conditions. The pair were two tenths shy of the leading D’Alberto.
Plenty of standing water caught many drivers out in the early running with the Turn 6 left hander proving to be particularly hard for the drivers to pull the cars up.
However, the session ran without incident, although the field was reduced to 18 cars following the damage sustained to James Moffat’s Renault Megane after being hit by series leader Will Brown in Practice 1.
Dylan O’Keeffe (Ash Seward Motorsport – Alfa Romeo) ran strongly throughout to end up fifth ahead of Garth Tander in the #4 Melbourne Performance Centre Audi RS3.
The top 10 was completed by Kelly Racing’s Andre Heimgartner (Subaru), Jimmy Vernon (Garry Rogers Motorsport – Alfa Romeo), Nathan Morcom (HMO Customer racing – Hyundai) and Aaron Cameron (Melbourne Performance Centre – Volkswagen).
Russell Ingall (Audi) ended up in 11th spot in front of top female runner Leanne Tander (Audi) in 14th, while Brown (Hyundai) could only clock the 15th best time.
The field will return to the track for qualifying on Saturday at 1035 local time, before Race 1 at 1345, broadcast live on SBS and via the Shannons Nationals live stream carried by Speedcafe.com.
Results: TCR Australia Practice 2, The Bend Motorsport Park
| Pos | Num | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 50 | Tony D’Alberto (Vic) | Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 2:10.5002 | |
| 2 | 8 | Jason Bright (Vic) | Taskforce / Alliance Autosport | Volkswagon Golf GTI | 2:10.5544 | 00.0542 |
| 3 | 24 | John Martin (NSW) | Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 2:10.7467 | 00.2465 |
| 4 | 38 | Jordan Cox (NSW) | Wall Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 2:10.7528 | 00.2526 |
| 5 | 9 | Dylan O’Keeffe (Vic) | Ashley Seward Motorsport | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2:10.8433 | 00.3431 |
| 6 | 4 | Garth Tander (Vic) | Melbourne Performance Centre | Audi RS 3 | 2:10.8744 | 00.3742 |
| 7 | 777 | Andre Heimgartner (NZ) | Kelly Racing | Subaru WRX STi | 2:11.5487 | 01.0485 |
| 8 | 7 | Jimmy Vernon (NSW) | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2:11.6404 | 01.1402 |
| 9 | 11 | Nathan Morcom (NSW) | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30N | 2:11.9318 | 01.4316 |
| 10 | 2 | Aaron Cameron (Vic) | Melbourne Performance Centre | Volkswagen Golf GTI | 2:11.9651 | 01.4649 |
| 11 | 100 | Russell Ingall (Qld) | Melbourne Performance Centre | Audi RS 3 | 2:12.3555 | 01.8553 |
| 12 | 33 | Chris Pither (NZ) | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Renault Megane RS | 2:12.3891 | 01.8889 |
| 13 | 62 | Alex Rullo (WA) | Kelly Racing | Holden Astra | 2:12.6929 | 02.1927 |
| 14 | 3 | Leanne Tander (Vic) | Melbourne Performance Centre | Audi RS 3 | 2:12.7566 | 02.2564 |
| 15 | 30 | William Brown (Qld) | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai i30N | 2:12.8408 | 02.3406 |
| 16 | 35 | Alexandra Whitley (Qld) | Alliance Autosport | Volkswagon Golf GTI | 2:15.0101 | 04.5099 |
| 17 | 6 | Molly Taylor (NSW) | Kelly Racing | Subaru WRX STi | 2:15.5143 | 05.0141 |
| 18 | 37 | Chelsea Angelo (Vic) | Kelly Racing | Holden Astra | 2:15.9486 | 05.4484 |
